Retired Air Force reservist seeks Agent Orange help

May. 16, 2014 - 11:48AM
|

CHICOPEE, MASS. — An Air Force reserve veteran has filed a complaint with the Defense Office of Inspector General seeking benefits for some Westover Air Reserve Base veterans who worked on planes used to spray Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

Wesley Carter tells the Springfield Republican Thursday his complaint is part of a three-year battle to get help for post-Vietnam veterans with illnesses linked to the toxic chemical defoliant.

He said that between 1972 and 1982 the Westover group flew and maintained C-123 Provider planes later found to be contaminated with dioxin.

A 2012 Air Force study determined the post-war Westover crews were unlikely to become ill from the planes, but said there wasn’t enough data for a determination.

Carter plans to testify next month in Washington to an Institute of Medicine committee studying the exposure risk.